DSCC Clears Hawkers from New Market Footpaths, Plants Over a Hundred Saplings
The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has carried out an eviction drive to free the footpath in front of New Market in the capital from occupation. The drive was conducted on Saturday (31 October) at around 3:30pm. Afterwards, the agency planted more than a hundred saplings on the footpath to prevent hawkers from sitting there again.
At around 3pm, DSCC Administrator Abdus Salam arrived in the New Market area as part of a pre-announced eviction and cleanliness drive. He first spoke to journalists in front of the Priyangon Shopping Complex, opposite New Market. The eviction then began from the New Market footpath adjoining Azimpur.
On-the-spot observations showed that as soon as the drive began on the footpath, hawkers moved their goods and equipment to the opposite side of the road. Several wooden platforms on the footpath were smashed with a city corporation bulldozer and loaded onto garbage trucks. Many hawkers were also seen standing among the crowd of onlookers.
After the eviction, nearly a hundred saplings, planted in sacks and drums, were set out on the footpath from New Market's Gate 2 to Gate 4.
After 3:30pm, as workers advanced towards Gate 4, several hawkers tried to sit again on the footpath by the Azimpur-side U-turn. DSCC staff immediately went there and removed their platforms.
The staff ended the drive and left the area at around 5:30pm. Until 6pm, no hawker was seen sitting in the cleared section.
Responding to a question at the start of the drive, DSCC Administrator Abdus Salam told journalists that regular drives would be carried out to keep New Market's footpaths and roads free of hawkers. As long as occupation continues, the drives will continue, he said.
Abdus Salam said, “We have repeatedly requested the persons concerned not to run any kind of business by occupying roads and footpaths. If anyone still sits occupying the road, strict legal action will be taken, including seizure of their goods.”
Calling on local leaders to play a responsible role, he said their cooperation must ensure that no one can sit illegally on the road in any way.
In a press release sent in the afternoon after the drive, the DSCC claimed, “As part of the drive, the main road and footpath from New Market's Gate 1 near the Nilkhet intersection to Gate 4 near Chandrima Super Market, and the main road from Priyangon Super Market to the Nilkhet intersection, were completely freed of occupation.”
On-the-spot observation, however, showed that the agency mainly conducted the drive from New Market's Gate 2 to Gate 4 near the Nilkhet intersection. In the Gate 1 and Gate 3 areas of New Market, the hawkers' shop-setting equipment was still in place.
